He was the first child born to Pat Kelly and Janet Hansen; they considered him their "practice kid." Soon enough, Craig. MILD HIGH | ROME SNOWBOARDS @ Woodward Copper! . Im pretty sure its what he would have wanted all of us to do, especially since he couldnt physically enjoy it with the rest of us. Wrong. If my riding doesnt feel technically perfect, exactly the way it should, I concentrate completely on the problem. But between school and training, Craig took off his game face and reveled in the art of the prank. Wise, poignant words from a man who lived, and eventually died, staying true to a passion for the mountains that was only matched by his talent as a snowboarder. Running back to your car, you reverse out of the parking lot and squeal a Rockford in the middle of the four-lane highway. You simply didnt walk away from competing and expect to continue being paid to snowboard back then. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Mt. Born on the 1st April 1966, Craigs lifetook a left turn when his family moved to Mt Vernonin Washington State in 1979. I know so many people who go into the backcountry totally ignorant, but Craig knew what was going on, Downing said. Downing, 34, who spends most of his winters filming and testing equipment in the backcountry slopes near his home in Lake Tahoe, said he has seen several avalanches, including one in which an entire upper-slope bowl released and shook the earth as it rumbled down the mountain -- but he has never been buried by one. He also made it clear he was bringing Burton along, and the brand backed him. Maybe, he said, Ive been journaling, keeping track of my dreams, and Ive been thinking maybe its time to tell some of my stories. I lay there in the darkness nodding my head in silence. By that time he was Burtons poster boy (after leaving Sims) with a couple pro models under his belt, and more to come. Craig Kelly was a competitive force, a true soul-driven freerider, and a passionate and highly intelligent mind behind Burton product development. Baker Banked Slalom snowboarding competition in 1988, 1991, and 1993. His reasoning wassimple: Ive always been into powder thats what I like riding.Luckily for him, Burton supported his decision wholeheartedly, andKelly found himself in the enviable position of being paid to get faceshots. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). The Gatekeeper: Craig Kelly (April 1, 1966-January 20, 2003)By Eric Blehm, February 12, 2000: Powder, sunshine, and six-dollar lift tickets, said Craig Kelly as we slogged upstairs to our hotel room at the end of a perfect day of riding in Iran. Flick, flick, flick. Bob Marleys Three Little Birds played quietly from a mini disc player on the nightstand, and I buried my nose in the first half of James Clavells epic novel, Whirlwind. A graduate of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington, the professional snowboarder was a force to be reckoned with, as he has been dubbed by the great Terje Hkonsen as the best snowboarder of all time. Subscribe to SNOWBOARDERs Newsletter to receive stories like this straight to your inbox. Host Lynn Neary talks with Jake Burton, owner of the Burton Snowboard Company about Craig Kelly, a champion snowboarder who was among those killed in an avalanche in British Columbia this . The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". A glistening canvas on which he worked his awe-inspiring magic. Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. Instead of writing a tribute that day, I went snowboarding. His professionalism extended past judged runs, and in this early era, his pioneering approach to exploring everything that snowboarding offered defined being an ATV rider. When I finally met him he turned out to be the best possible role model. Kelly was working as a guide for two groups of backcountry adventurers organized by . Craig Kelly is survived by his daughter, Olivia, and partner, Savina. Craig Kelly - The Snowboarders Journal Craig Kelly From his amazing road trips from AK to Chile, to the birth of his daughter, to his interest in quantum physics The Master lays it all down for historical record. Called 'Craig's', the state-of-the-art addition to the company's Burlington HQ will be the place for the techies to experiment with new ideas in snowboard design. I took it for granted that the four-time world champion/three-time national champion whose method airs Id tried to emulate in the late 80s would grow old as an icon of snowboardings soul. TransWorld SNOWboarding and the entire Burton family deeply mourns his loss and extend our. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Yosemite breaks decades-old snowfall record, closing national park indefinitely, Jaguars, narcos, illegal loggers: One mans battle to save a jungle and Maya ruins, Has wildflower shaming gone too far? Kelly took snowboarding professionalism to a new level in the early1990s. Burton US Open 2011 Halfpipe - watch the winning runs, Burton US Open 2011 Slopestyle- watch the winning runs. The store had ordered a few all-wood Burton Backhills. All rights reserved. He was my inspiration before I met him. Kelly was one of those rare breed . In one of the most famous tales of his adventures, in 2000 he took a 14-month trip with his girlfriend, from Alaska to Chile, surfing and snowboarding his way through the Americas. Box 2759. Woodward PC, Big Bear, and Woodward Copper with The Dust Box! Craig Elmer Kelly was only 36-years old whenhe died, but his place in snowboardings folklore wasabsolutely assured. Press play for a hell ride through Helsinki. I'm not sure of the year, but I think it was around 1998, Craig set up a Burton trip to North Cascade Heli in Washington with Joe Curtes, Jeff Curtes, Dave Seoane and myself. We get. They didn't come any bigger than Craig Kelly in the snowboarding world. Jason J2 Rasmus, 1972-2019Gone Tooz Soon. He was never malicious, he was just Craig., As Craig worked his way through college, he set lofty goals for himself. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". One day, cruising to your full-time office job that you had to get a few years back to make payments on all your keys, you drive past a guy on the corner with his thumb out and a snowboard under his arm. You begin throwing them out the window as you blow down the highway. Nitro Snowboards just dropped a new series called Hard Drive. We're reprinting one of Craig's favorite columns written by Ken Achenbach from the January 1992issue ofTransWorld SNOWboarding to honor him. By the end of that winter, Craig was sponsored by another local bike shop, The Bike Factory, which also carried snowboards made by Burton and the other top brand at the time, Sims. Burton US Open 2011 Halfpipe - Kazu Kokubo & Kelly Clark Win! This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Craig Kelly is not only my friend, but a hero and a mentor of mine in snowboarding. Only a few snowboarders were making a living at the time, and six-figure salaries were unheard of. Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up-to-date with the latest from Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up-to-date with the latest from If this boats a rockin : Boaters are healthier and happier -- and have sex more often -- than non-boaters, according to a recent survey conducted by Impulse Research Corp. News of Kelly's death sent shockwaves throughout the snowboarding community. Woodward PC, Big Bear, and Woodward Copper with The Dust Box! His memory held strong last Friday as we rode straight onto the lift after the Canyon opened, giving us access to 14 inches of light, dry midweek powder. As Jake Burton puts it: When the rest of the industry listened to Craig, that was when thesport really took off.. Annett remembers a soft-spoken, spiritual man who loved snowboarding almost as much as he loved his infant daughter. SNOWBOARDER has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. Timing, he said, is everything. As we walked down a marbled staircase to the dining room, he continued musing, The problem with memoirs and biographies is that you have to die before anybody wants to read about you. He paused for effect, lifted his chin, then said, Screw that. And we both laughed. Craig asked Tom, What do I do now that Im on the team? Tom replied, Keep doing what youre doing. Craig was a four-time World Champion, a three-time U.S. Open Champion, three-time Baker Banked Slalom Champion, and the 2002 recipient of TransWorld SNOWboardings Tranny award. Craig Elmer Kelly was born on April Fool's Day-April 1, 1966. Craig appeared in Warren Miller movies for several consecutive years. To help share awareness of what Craig meant to snowboarding and Burton, we asked his daughter Olivia to share a remembrance of her fathers monumental contributions and legacy. Ive had a lot of good days of riding, a lot of selfish days,he said in an interview. SNOWBOARDER. Baker Banked Slalom snowboarding competition in 1988, 1991, and 1993.[1]. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. He attended the University of Washington where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and studied Chemical Engineering. The cross overlooks Baldface Lodge near Nelson, British Columbia. Vision (a corporation that had a licensing agreement to distribute Sims snowboards) eventually sent Craig a contract to sign on as an official team member. Those championships were both in halfpipe and the now-antiquated snowboard slalom racing. During that era, he won four World Championships (1988-91) and three U.S. Open Championships (1987-89). This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Craig Kelly was and always will be one of snowboardings most successful athletes. Im sure his guard was up too, but. . He preached it and so do I. I cant think of a bigger loss to the sport, and to all of us personally, says Jake Burton. His style and personality were magnetic, and through ongoing video parts and magazine coverage, Kellys progression from halfpipe to cliff lines proved there was a viable path beyond the podium. The 13-year old meta local kid named Dan Donnelly and the two wentBMXing together, then started riding snowboards in1981 when a local shop bought a couple of boards asa test case. Maybe there wasa market for people who enjoyed exploring the backcountry, as brandslike The North Face and Patagonia had pioneered in climbing? Craig Kelly was a competitive force, a true soul-driven freerider, and a passionate and highly intelligent mind behind Burton product development. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy. Embed. Over his 15-year professional career, he won 4 world championships and 3 U.S. championships; he won the Mt. In each case, people laughed and couldnt understand why he was wasting his time with these non-mainstream sports, remembers friend Barry Minor. Im sure that for Craig thatwas the toughest part along with leaving Savina and Olivia., I met Craig in 1989, says Terje Haakonsen. Kelly, who leaves behind his girlfriend, Savina, and 2-year-old daughter, Olivia Maria, was a free-spirited. Jason "J2" Rasmus, 1972-2019Gone Tooz Soon, Three Decades of TransWorld SNOWboarding: Part 1, 1987-1996, How to Set Up Your Snowboard Bindings with Danny Kass, Mountain GOAT: Dan Brisse, The Gap of Death, How to Plan Your Dream Trip to Niseko Japan on a Budget, Burton Step On: A Critical Review of a New Step-In Snowboard Binding System. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. [1] Then you backhand your girlfriends apartment key out the passenger window. This cool kids outdoors club will introduce you to L.A.s best asset, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, Hong Kong will lift its mask mandate Wednesday, its last major COVID restriction, Burbank aborted landing was latest close call for U.S. flights. Craig grew up in Mount Vernon, WA, a mid-sized town centrally located for equidistant travel to ski areas such as Mount Baker, Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie. Socially Awkward: Terje Haakonsen addresses the tweet heard round the action sports w Gretchen Bleiler with Conan O'Brian Tonight Show, Socially Awkward: Terje Haakonsen addresses the tweet heard round the action sports world, R.I.P. A bit farther offshore, giant yellowfin tuna are crashing the surface after baitfish. The first leg of the Triple Crown was last month at Breckenridge, Colo. Jeff figured Craig and Dan would be a good gauge of the toys potential. Thats how we keep his legend alive. According to fraternity brother Mark Thomas, It wasnt just Mount Bakers insane terrain that kept him going back, it was his affection for a girl named Kelly Jo Legaz who worked on the mountain. Craig and Kelly Jo would become one of snowboardings first publicized romances. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. How to find the best blooms without the drama, Nature-curious? Not Done the information below is content from Wikipedia. Craig Kelly was 36 years old and is survived by his daughter, Olivia and partner, Savina. My guard will be up, but it has always been up. Vernon, Washington. One of them was professional snowboarder craig kelly, who perished in an avalanche in british columbia in 2003. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. It's not really "magazine friendly" in a traditional sense. Craig appeared in Warren Miller movies for several consecutive years. Details: www.scma.com. We tracked out Gunners Bowl until we moved onto the Arm, and we hiked to some of the most incredible alpine terrain that one can find by foot. "Craig Kelly (1 April 1966 - 20 January 2003) was a professional snowboarder. So to be able to watch Kelly and see where even he and his crew would avoid laying tracks helped us to gain mountain sense. You have to take care of them. Soon you have to get a day job because youre not making enough money at night. Craig Kelly was the first true professional snowboarder. She wants you to hang with her once in a while instead of going boarding all the time. Among those scheduled to compete -- in Mammoths new Super Duper Pipe, 600 feet long with 22-foot walls -- are Olympic medalists Ross Powers, Danny Kass, JJ Thomas and Kelly Clark. I was totally freaked out the first time I went riding with Craig. The four-time World Champion was literally the best of the best, and brought serious freestyle credibility to Burton. Madison Blackley, Ozzy Henning, Aspen Weaver, Nate Haust, Joey Leon and more! But more than anything, he was a wanderer, which eventually led him to eschew the competitive world for freeriding in the backcountry, where he had countless first descents to his name from Alaska to Canada and in the U.S. all the while helping Burton develop its first splitboard. ) and three U.S. Open championships ( 1987-89 ) Big Bear, 1993! Family moved to Mt Vernonin Washington State in 1979 in British Columbia 1 April 1966 - 20 2003! - watch the winning runs asked Tom, what do I do now Im! 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